Saudi Arabia

The results of a concerted effort to address decades of rapid unplanned growth in Saudi Arabia’s second-largest city are beginning to become clear as transportation plans advance and major development projects get under way. These efforts look set to facilitate sustainable growth and diversification in the coming years and will ultimately help...

With Jeddah’s population expected to grow to 5m by 2029, from its current size of 3.6m, a considerable number of new cars and people are taking to the streets each year, putting increasing pressure on infrastructure. While plans are afoot to reduce reliance on cars through an integrated transport system, this is not due to be fully operational...

With more than 61,000 existing hotel rooms in the Holy City, Makkah is the largest hotel market in Saudi Arabia by far. In comparison the capital, Riyadh, offers 10,000 rooms and Medina 7800 rooms, according to industry website Top Hotel Projects. Despite the large number of rooms, occupancy rates in Makkah remain high. The average from...

January 2014 marked a major step forward for the Makkah Metro project with the passing of the pre-qualification deadline for potential bidders for phase-1 tenders, meaning much-needed additional mass transport capacity around the Grand Mosque and the wider city is that much closer to becoming a reality. “15 national and multinational consortia...

With the population of Makkah expected to double over the next 15 years and the number of pilgrims forecast to continue rising steadily, there is one central theme when it comes to development planning: the need to expand capacity.

The reasons for the low insurance take-up seen across the MENA region are well documented: a low level of consumer awareness, cultural resistance and the relatively underdeveloped financial sectors of some nations are frequently cited to explain the penetration rate of around 1%, compared to a global average estimated by PwC at 6.5% in 2012....